ESSEX COUNTY — Divorce trials will resume in Essex County in September, eight months after they were halted because of an unprecedented shortage of Superior Court judges at the state’s busiest courthouse.

The county assignment judge, Patricia Costello, notified the Essex County Bar Association of the planned Sept. 1 restart in a letter Friday, after Chief Justice Stuart Rabner agreed to transfer three Superior Court judges to the beleaguered courthouse.

The additional judges reduces the vacancy number to 10, of the allotted 44 in Essex.

In December, Costello suspended all complex civil trials and matrimonial trials amid a year-long battle between Gov. Chris Christie and state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) over political appointees that led to the vacancies. The delay has affected thousands of cases — including hundreds of divorce proceedings — but through a patchwork of measures, Costello resumed civil trials in April.

Divorce proceedings, however, have remained suspended.

In her letter to bar association president Robert Scrivo, Costello noted the resumption of divorce trials will not clear the calendar immediately.

"Understandably, progress in addressing the backlog will be slow, since matrimonial trials were suspended since December 2011," she wrote. "The judges are working extremely hard in all divisions and with this additional, albeit temporary help from our sister counties, we hope to continue to address the needs of the litigants and lawyers."

In a phone interview, Scrivo said his group was grateful for the transfer judges, but added, "there is still a significant number of judicial slots that need to be addressed as soon as possible. It’s a Band-Aid over a wound that’s been bleeding for some time."

The three judges assigned temporarily to Essex are: Wayne Forrest from Mercer County and Miguel de la Carrera from Passaic County, who will go to the family division; and Michael Hubner from Morris County, who will serve in the civil division. Forrest is the former Somerset County prosecutor who became a judge last month, following Senate approval.

Judge Michelle Hollar-Gregory, who had been serving in the criminal division in Essex, was reassigned to civil, Costello said. Judge Michael Petrolle, now serving in the Essex criminal division, will reach mandatory retirement age of 70 next month, but has been allowed to remain as a recall judge, she said.